Our MISSION

Why WE DO IT

The Oregon Center for Human Rights (OCHR) will ensure the principles of equality and human rights in the region through community building, educational engagement, and cultural diplomacy.

We believe that the celebration of human rights creates a stronger and more prosperous community. We believe that every individual, no matter who they are, can reach their highest potential when they are recognized for their humanity.

We emphasize everything we share in our struggles, to broaden perspectives and deepen the meaning of the word "community".

My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

WHAT WE DO

· Cultural Diplomacy

· Education, Information, and Critical Thinking

· Building Community through Placemaking

HOW WE DO IT

The Cultural CenterThe Center has the unique opportunity to influence cultural awareness through convention-challenging exhibits that preserve the heritage of historically marginalized communities and encourage understanding and action for the causes of humanity.

Public Engagement and Leadership DevelopmentWe are dedicated to facilitating programs and events that attract and engage a diverse audience. We help keep members informed on relevant human rights issues, reach out to new guests, and connect people with communities taking leadership on human rights in the region.

EducationOur dream is to build global citizens that are engaged for the rest of their lives. We aim to partner with schools and teachers to create an educational curriculum that further engages our youth in Oregon's diverse history and background.

BACKGROUND

The Oregon Center for Human Rightswas initially conceived in March of 2014. The idea originated from concern about the lack of access to human rights related educational programming for youth and adults. Oregonians are hungry for relevant, compelling information about cultural disparities, human rights history, and contemporary civic causes.

Many school districts in the State of Oregon have not been able to offer youth and students a robust understanding of Oregon’s diverse civic culture.

In 2012, the City of Portland adopted the Portland Plan, which used the feedback of citywide residents to envision the roadmap to a prosperous, educated, healthy, and equitable Portland in 2035. The 5-Year Action Plan announced support for actions that would “...promote curricula that reflect the experiences, histories and cultures of Oregon’s communities of color, immigrants, and refugees to boost student investment and performance”.

In 2013, the Oregon State Legislature [7] passed Senate Bill 739, urging the Oregon Department of Education to partner with the Oregon Historical Society and the Oregon Commissions for Women, Asian and Pacific Islander, Black, and Hispanic Affairs to improve their “Social Science Standards” and diversify the teaching curriculum that pertains to Oregon Studies.While these policy objectives are an opportunity to strengthen the voice and visibility of marginalized communities, they did not fund the implementation of these programs.

Studies [2] [3] estimate that every year, about 33,549 individualsmove from out-of-state to Multnomah County and 97,297 to the tri-county area. This is another indicator of the consistent need to educate people who may not have been exposed to the history of human injustice in Oregon. In a community that can sometimes feel fragmented and disconnected through years of population and demographic change, the Center for Human Rights provides the opportunity to connect people to their predecessors and ancestors, learning how the role models who came before them built community and a shared identity. This history has the potential to impact how we vote, spend our money, where we choose to live, and how we are involved in the community. This history gives a glimpse into our past and a window into our future, creating reflections and conversations that transform us into an Oregon that puts human rights first.In the past five years, our region has risen to national and international prominence, influenced to a degree by cultural references in Portlandia and New York Times reviews. Unfortunately, there’s so much data that casts a different narrative.Homelessness and Housing Insecurity (2013 Point in Time report by the City of Portland and Multnomah County):

Homelessness is increasing in most areas of the region (by 10% overall based on 2013 Street Count numbers for January 30, 2013)

According to the Portland Housing Bureau, on any given night about 4,000 sleep in shelters or on the streets within the city.

Homelessness is experienced disproportionately by communities of color (who make up 45% of the region’s people experiencing homelessness, but only 29% of the overall population).

Racial Justice (Communities of Color in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, by Coalition of Color) [3]:

Educational attainment is stratified by race. While only 7% of whites did not graduate high school; 30% of individuals of color did not.

People of color are 35.7% likelier than white people to be unemployed.

Once they engage with police, children of color are 50% more likely to be detained and held, then released into the community.

Health disparities, while unevenly distributed across communities of color, average out to result in significant disproportionality. Low birth weights among communities of color are 37% more common than for white babies.

Less than one-tenth of 1% of the City of Portland’s contracting dollars go to minority-owned businesses.

Disability and Mental Health [5] (2008 Cornell University study on Disability Statistics and the 2010 National Alliance on Mental Illness for Oregon [6]):

In Oregon in 2008, the poverty rate of working-age people with disabilities was 27.6%, compared to the general state of Oregon's at 15.5%.

An estimated 80% of working-age people with disabilities have health insurance, compared to 84% of the total Oregon population.

Oregon’s public mental health system provides services to only 43% of adults who live with serious mental illnesses in the state.

In 2008, approximately 3,400 adults with mental illnesses were incarcerated in prisons in Oregon. Additionally, an estimated 31%of female and 14% of male jail inmates nationally live with serious mental illness.

During the 2006-07 school year, approximately 54% of Oregon students aged 14 and older living with serious mental health conditions who receive special education services dropped out of high school.

Between 2009 and 2013, there were 469 unduplicated victims of child sex trafficking in Oregon with more than 150 open cases (as of August 2013).

The average age of entry for a victim of child sex trafficking is 15.5.

African Americans are greatly over-represented as victims of youth human trafficking. They comprised 5.8% of Multnomah County’s population (and 2% of the state population), but 27.1% of the 469 victims during this timeframe.

The City of Portland has made efforts to honor its diverse history. For example, there are markers along TriMet MAX stops on the Yellow Line to highlight the Vanport Flood and Japanese Internment. There is a gateway plaza built for Martin Luther King Jr. north of Broadway Boulevard. There is a plaza constructed to highlight the beginnings of Albina the neighborhood as a hub for communities of color at Dawson’s Park. Unfortunately, some of these displays are inaccessible, are missing valuable context surrounding the information, and lack a call to action. OCHR aims to provide a permanent space for many of these histories, complete with comprehensive information, and staffing and programs that support an enriching educational experience.

A number of organizations provide historical context for identity-based communities. There is the Oregon Jewish Museum that preserves the heritage of Oregon’s Jewish immigrants, the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center for the history of Japanese-American community, and the Q Center, which supports LGBTQ community building. OCHR aims to be a space that incorporates a multicultural narrative of struggles in Oregon, with comprehensive exhibits that use records and histories sourced from the local community.There are national examples of exhibiting spaces dedicated to human and civil rights, which include the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Alabama, the Idaho Human Rights Education Center in Boise, Idaho, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. There has been a recent wave of new spaces dedicated to education and empowerment: the Gates Foundation opened its interactive Visitors Center in 2012, the Los Angeles Museum of Social Justice opened in 2013 and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights opened in Atlanta in June 2014.

In 2009, a study on Portland determined that its volunteerism rate is 36.7%, second in the country. While we should be proud of being the second most engaged city in the nation, it also shows that the majority of the population is not represented in this statistic. We believe OCHR can offer opportunities that connect and inspire a new wave of human rights leaders. Oregon Center for Human Rights wants to use arts, culture, and history to educate and empower a new generation of civil rights leaders. OCHR is dedicated to using culture and education to inspire residents to push the dial forward on community engagement in human rights.